By Nur Ashikin Louis
KUCHING, May 24: The total budget required to implement telecommunications initiatives is estimated at more than RM5.9 billion to achieve 99.9 per cent coverage in Sarawak by 2030.
Sarawak Utility and Telecommunication Minister Datuk Julaihi Narawi said as Sarawak still has low mobile network coverage, the ministry will request the federal government for more Universal Service Provision (USP) funds to expand telecommunications coverage in Sarawak.
To date, a total of 3,471 telecommunication towers have been built in Sarawak while 1,043 more towers are being developed in stages until the third quarter of 2023.
Julaihi said the towers are part of the estimated 7,000 towers needed for Sarawak to achieve full coverage of telecommunication services across the State.
“The remaining 2,486 new telco towers will be built from the year 2025 up to 2030,” he said when presenting his winding up speech in the Sarawak Legislative Assembly (DUN) sitting today.
For the record, of the 3,471 towers that have been completed, 3,186 towers are already operational while 285 are equipped with telecommunication equipment and will be fully operational (on-air) by the end of this year.
At the same time, the Sarawak government through Sarawak Multimedia Authority (SMA) and Sarawak Digital Economy Corporation (SDEC) are serious in implementing the Sarawak Linking Urban, Rural and Nation (Saluran) to provide connectivity in the State.
There are six main initiatives under Saluran namely, the construction of 600 new telcom towers under Sarawak Multimedia Authority Rural Telecommunication (Smart); Wifi Saluran broadband connection facilities via satellite technology in 250 remote areas; expansion of SarawakNet services through the Digital Socio Economy programme to 60 sites throughout Sarawak; expansion of 130km of fiber optic coverage in Sebauh, Bintulu through the Sebauh Rural High-Speed Open Broadband Network pilot project; provision of Point of Interconnect (PoI) to provide Internet services for nine national parks in Sarawak; and implementation of fixed wireless broadband services through the Sarawak Rural Broadband Network (MySRBN) package.
At the same time, the federal government through Malaysian Communications and Multimedia Commission (MCMC) is implementing National Digital Network (Jendela) in Sarawak which includes the construction of 824 telco towers with 4G networks, expansion of fiber optic services to cover 116,096 residential and business premises throughout the State, Broadband Wireless Access (BWA) which involves the provision of Wifi hotspots in 523 rural locations, and upgrading of 3G network services to 4G in more than 3,000 existing transmitting stations.
“Of the 824 towers planned, a total of 82 towers have been completed so far and the remaining 742 are scheduled to be completed in stages until the third quarter of 2023. To date, 636 of the 742 towers are in various stages of implementation,” said Julaihi. — DayakDaily
